The document discusses 12 trivia questions related to literature, history, and politics. It provides clues and context for identifying people, places, events, and works referenced in the questions. Readers are prompted to answer who or what is being referred to in each multiple-part item. The questions cover topics like famous books, court cases, works of art, and more.

1. Hari Parameswaran

2. 1 - Red Hot off the press
The cover of the latest India today
uses the term “Hope of the
hopeless”.
The reference is to an essay
written by someone who was also
in the news last week.
a) Who are we talking about?
b) The first line of that essay is a
take-off of on a well known first
line of a book. Said book has an
entry in Martin Seymour-Smith’s
“The 100 Most Influential Books
Ever Written: The History of
Thought from Ancient Times to
Today”
2

3. Answer
a) Vaclav Havel’s “Power of the Powerless”
b) The first line was “"A specter is haunting Eastern
Europe: the specter of what in the West is called
dissent”. The reference is to the “Communist
Manifesto”
3

4. 2 - Speaking of which…
The second line of the “Communist Manifesto”
is “All the powers of old Europe have entered
into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope
and Tsar, __X__ and __Y___, French Radicals
and German police-spies”
X was an Austrian, a leading figure in European
politics in the 1840s. He was the leading architect of
the alliance system among European nations after
Napoleon’s defeat, and his diplomatic skills is
supposed to have prevented multiple wars.
Y was considered to be the greatest historian of his
time, and introduced the study of “civilization” as a
subject. He also served as the prime minister of
France during the period of 19 Sep 1847 and 23 Feb
1848.
X and Y?
4

5. Answer
a) X = Klemens von Metternich
b) Y = François Guizot
5

6. 3 - Literary Chases…
From “A Woman of No Importance”
MRS. ALLONSBY: “Horrid word, Health”
LORD ILLINGWORTH : “Silliest word in our language,
and one knows so well the popular idea of health. The
English country gentleman galloping after a fox - ____
_______ __ ___ _______ ___ ___ __________”
6

7. Ans
“The unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable”
7

8. 4 - Forgotten faces
Fransesco Galluccio would have
been forgotten by history except
for an incident in 1917 at the
Harvard Inn on Coney Island. He
was out for the evening with his
sister Lena and his date Maria
Tanzio.
The incident was a minor one, but
resulted in a name that is
remembered even today.
What happened?
8

9. Ans
Al Capone, working at the club, made some
statements about his sister. It ended in a fight that
earned Al his “scarface”
9

10. 5 – The golden oldies
In 1988, Time-Warner bought the rights for this 100
year old work from Birchtree Ltd., a Princeton based
publishing company, surprising many.
However, it’s really paid of for them, and they get close
to 2 million USD every year from various sources.
It surprises people that there is a copyright on it at all.
The original work was in the public domain till 1935,
when the publisher put in new words, and modified
the first note to account for the two syllables needed
by the first word in the modified work. And hey presto,
copyright extended (now till 2030). Which work?
10

11. 5 - Ans
Happy birthday to you
11

12. 6 – Law of the land
He was associated with two of the
most noted US court cases of the
2oth century.
For one, he led the prosecution of
Jack Ruby for killing Lee Harvey
Oswald, where he squared off
against a renowned attorney, Melvin
Belli.
The other case, where he was the
named defendant, ensured that his
name is well known even today.
Who?
12

13. 6 - Ans
Henry Wade (Roe vs Wade)
13

14. 7 – Time enough for Love
The March 28, 1960 edition of TIME Magazine carried an
article titled
“ For the love of Sylvia”
It went
“At 37, handsome Commander ___ __X__ could consider
himself fortunate. He was second officer on the cruiser
__Y___, ___’s flagship; he had an excellent World War II
record, ranging from convoy duty on the Murmansk run to
the Anzio landing on the Italian coast; he had a
comfortable home …, and his 28-year-old English wife,
Sylvia, had borne him three attractive children. ___X__ was
a good bet to become commander in chief….”
Y was a Crown Colony Class Light Cruiser, formerly known
as HMS Nigeria.
X and Y?
14

15. 6 - Ans
X = Kavas Nanavati
Y = INS Mysore
15

16. 8 – Which leads us to…
Speaking of Mysore, this year marks the 500th year that
this symbol has been associated with the Mysore
kingdom.
It was first used as an official symbol on the coins
minted in Vijayanagara during the reign of King
Achyutadevaraya’s (1530-42 CE).
As for the origins, legend goes that after Narasimha
destroyed Hiranyakashipu, his anger was not abated,
and the other gods asked Shiva to intervene. Shiva
took the form of a Sharaba and tried to tried to pacify
Vishnu. However, Vishnu morphed into a new form,
leading to a fierce battle that lasted for 18 days.
What are we talking about?
16

17. 8 - Ans
Gandaberunda/Berunda, which can be seen in the
center of the official emblem of Karnataka
17

18. 9 – The good word
The general form of the word is from the Latin term that
means “To yoke together”.
In linguistics, it means “To inflect (a verb) in its forms for
distinctions such as number, person, voice, mood, and
tense”
In biochemistry, it refers “the turning of substances into a
hydrophilic state in the body”.
Bacterial _____ means “a transfer of DNA without fusion”.
It appears in many branches of mathematics.
It also appears in the context of marriage, but the most
common association of the term there evokes a picture of
prisons and prisoners.
What are we talking about?
18

19. 9 - Ans
Conjugate/Conjugation, Conjugal Visits
19

20. 10 – The ties that bind
George Gamow was ALA
Richard Feynman was GLY
Edward Teller was LEU
Nicholas Metropolis was MET
Who, with an official designation of “Optimist” was
PRO?
And who, with an official designation of “Pessimist”
was TYR?
20

21. 10 - Ans
James Watson and Francis Crick.
These were their designations as part of the RNA Tie
Club, started in 1954 with an aim to solve the riddle of
the RNA and how it built proteins. All members
received woolen neckties with an embroidered helix
on them, hence the name 'RNA Tie Club‘
The designations represent Amino acids
21

22. 11 – An un-common term
In 1958, an English sociologist and Labour politician
named Michael Young wrote a satirical tale where he
imagined a future in which the British establishment
dissolved itself, abolished all forms of hereditary
power, and created instead a system under the rule of a
government favoring intelligence and aptitude.
Although the concept had existed for centuries, and
had even been implemented in one form by the Han
dynasty in the 2nd C BC.
The term commonly used to refer to such systems
today was introduced in Michael Young’s tale. What?
22

23. 11 - Ans
Meritocracy
23

24. 12 – Travellers tales
In 1970, Bernard Sadow was returning from a family
vacation at Aruba, and was struggling his way through
customs at an airport in Puerto Rico, when inspiration
stuck him.
He worked on his idea, but had a lot of trouble
convincing buyers – “I showed it to every department
store in New York City and a lot of buying offices, and
everybody said I was crazy.” At last Macy’s agreed to
sell his product, and it was wildly successful.
Variants of what he came up with are a common sight
in airports (and other places too) through the world.
What are we talking about?
24

25. 12 - Ans
Wheeled luggage
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26. 13 – The cities of the plains
There was this group of 5 city-states, together called the
Pentapolis. The cities are supposed to be located near the
dead sea, but there is no agreement on the historical
existence of these cities.
In 1976, Giovanni Pettinato claimed he had found a
cuneiform tablet that mentioned the 5 cities, but others
pointed out that of the two well known ones, the tablet had
placed one in Northern Syria, and the other name most
likely referred to a different city – Emar.
Three of the lesser known cities are – Admah, Zeboim and
Ebla/Zoar.
Which are the other 2 cities?
26

27. 13 - Ans
Sodom and Gomorrah
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28. 14 – The play within the play
The play within a play is old hat, of course.
In this particular case, the play within the play was an
actual one, an older one by the author titled “The Rules
of the Game”. As the actors begin to rehearse, some
strangers show up and explain that they are unfinished
characters.
None of the characters are named in the play, and the
strangers are just specified as – THE FATHER, THE
MOTHER, THE STEP-DAUGHTER, BOY, THE CHILD,
and THE SON.
When it was first performed in 1921 at the Teatro Valle
in Rome, the author supposedly had to run out of the
theater to avoid the audience.
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29. 14 - Ans
Six characters in search of an author – Luigi Pirandello
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